Many phone companies today offer time-of-day, day-of-week, and date routing of telephone calls based on an architecture called Advanced Intelligent Networks (AIN) and as features of PBX phone systems. Through a Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) which employs AIN, a subscriber to this service may be allowed to program, through touch-tone inputs, the routing of incoming telephone calls to a particular phone number based on time-of-day, day-of-week, and date. Typically, AIN software is installed in the switches of the PSTN (for example, ESS, DMS, etc.) at the Service Control Point (SCP).
In operation, the call travels to the destination switch, which detects an AIN trigger, and sends a query to the SCP which contains the programed information as to how to route the call. Once the relevant information is located, the SCP forwards the call information to the destination switch which routes the call accordingly.
With regards to establishing telephonic connections, a number of Internet search engine companies are providing access to telephone records for individuals. Stored in a database which is searchable over the Internet are a listing of telephone numbers or possibly E-mail addresses for large segments of the population. Internet users who employ these search capabilities may provide an individual's name or other relevant information, which is then used in a search of the database. Once the telephone number or other communications information is located, it may be presented to the Internet user through a screen display and a call may be placed by simply selecting the hypertext link representing the information for an individual fro the corresponding device.